Cardiff Bridge (also known locally as Canton Bridge) is the road bridge crossing the

River Taff The River Taff () is a river in Wales. It rises in the Brecon Beacons as two rivers, the Taf Fechan ("little Taff") and the Taf Fawr ("great Taff") before becoming one just north of Merthyr Tydfil. At Cardiff, it empties into the Bristol Chan ...

at the approximate site of the original river crossing, close to

Cardiff Castle Cardiff Castle () is a medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion located in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. The original motte and bailey castle was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roma ...

in the centre of

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales.

Early history

A bridge link crossing the Taff at Cardiff has existed since

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, though a safer river crossing beyond the tidal range was preferred at

Llandaff Llandaff (; ; from 'church' and ''River Taff, Taf'') is a district, Community (Wales), community and coterminous electoral ward in the north of Cardiff, capital of Wales. It was incorporated into the city in 1922. It is the seat of the Bisho ...

, to the north. In 1582 the timber bridge was replaced by one built of stone, to the north of the current bridge and connecting to the town's Westgate. It was continually damaged by flooding and rebuilt in 1649, 1671 and 1720. When the Westgate was demolished in 1781 it was decided to relocate and rebuild the bridge. A narrow replacement was completed in 1796 (footpaths were later added supported by

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

s). In 1827 another huge flood swept away the bridge and traffic reverted to using the crossing at Llandaff. In 1859 a new stone bridge was built, incorporating parts of the earlier structure and with iron lattice railings. It was widened in 1877.

20th century

In 1930/1 the bridge was almost completely replaced with the currently existing bridge. This has broad arches made from

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

supported on stone pillars with a rusticated finish. Above each pier was a

cenotaph A cenotaph is an empty grave, tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere or have been lost. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been reinterred elsewhere. Although t ...

-style obelisk holding a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

torch. The bridge was Grade II listed in 2002, being a good and original pre-World War II reinforced concrete bridge.

21st century

In 2014 segregated

cycle path A bike path or a cycle path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "C ...

s in each direction were constructed, separating cyclists from pedestrians and motor vehicles. The bridge was Grade II listed in 2002, being a good and original pre-World War II reinforced concrete bridge.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 51.4810, -3.1858, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Bridges completed in 1931 Bridges in Cardiff Bridges over the River Taff Concrete bridges in Wales Grade II listed bridges in Wales Rebuilt buildings and structures in Wales Road bridges in Wales

Early history

20th century

21st century

See also

References

External links